


Rain, Rain, Go Away

by thecrimsonmonarch



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, First Meetings, Freeform, M/M, Rain, What Have I Done, What Was I Thinking?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-30
Updated: 2016-08-30
Packaged: 2018-08-12 01:45:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7915660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecrimsonmonarch/pseuds/thecrimsonmonarch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lots of rain, and maybe a speck of romance (if you squint really hard).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rain, Rain, Go Away

“Excuse me,” Tom called out, but the pouring rain easily drowned out his voice. He quickened his stride to close the distance between him and the stranger’s back. “Excuse me!” he repeated, louder this time, as his free hand took hold of the young man’s shoulder.

Bewildered green eyes whipped back and met his.

“Yes…?”

Tom let go of the stranger’s drenched shoulder, grimacing. “Your right shoe’s untied,” he returned simply, index finger pointing at a soaked pair of red hi-top converses.

The dull pitter-patter of rain hitting Tom’s umbrella seemed to speed up as the skies grew angrier. The stranger combed back his wet hair and raised his brows in unsure silence.

“Er…” he lifted the foot in question a few centimetres off the pavement, then brought it back down as he shuffled from foot to foot. “Thanks?”

With nothing left to say, they just looked at each other, and Tom absently noticed how long the stranger’s lashes were, and how the raindrops clinging to them somehow made the green in his eyes pop out more.

Then one of them blinked (Tom couldn’t be too sure who), and the moment turned uncomfortable as fast as it had come.

"So." The stranger raised his hand in an awkward wave that could be a salute and/or a very rude gesture. “Bye,” he coughed, and before Tom could so much as _think_ of a reply, the stranger was out of the shelter of Tom’s umbrella, once again braving the deluge in his soaked coat.

Tom stood stunned for a beat, unaccustomed to being brushed off like that. He immediately pulled himself together though, and he strode off like a man with a purpose.

“Wait!”

He easily caught up with the stranger and blocked his way.

“Aren’t you going to re- _tie_ it?” he insisted.

“What?”

“You do know that shoelaces are meant to be tied, don’t you.”

“And you _do_ know that these are my shoes, don’t you,” the stranger retorted, hands thrown palm up to stop Tom from going any closer. “I’m not tying my laces if I don’t want to.”

“Well, if you don't mind –” Tom pushed his umbrella into the stranger’s hand, and he dropped down on his haunches.

“What the _fuck_ -“

“Stay still,” Tom said through gritted teeth as he looped the soppy laces between his fingers.

“Am I being filmed? Is this one of those social experiment things?”

“ _No_."

“Or a prank –“

“Just –“

“This is, isn’t it?”

Tom pulled on the laces viciously. “Done.”

He swiftly stood up and reached out of the umbrella’s radius, washing his hands with rainwater.

All the while, the stranger watched Tom with wary eyes.

“You,” he said in a dumbfounded voice, “are a strange, strange, _strange_ man.”

Tom halfheartedly shook his hands in an effort to dry them, then reached for his umbrella back. “I’d rather be strange than careless.”

The stranger simply arched a brow, and Tom felt a need to at least try to explain his behaviour.

“Look,” he started, “we’ve been going in the same direction for some time now, and not once did you try to fix your laces. It just got too unbearable to let slide at some point.”

The stranger let out an unexpected snort. “Was that a joke?”

“What?” Tom thought back to what he had said. “No.”

“Huh, shame,” the stranger breathed out. "Anyway, erm, I think we'd both agree that we've reached the time threshold of strange meetings and small-talk."

"Definitely."

"So..." the stranger tilted his head at him, "bye?"

"Bye," Tom confirmed.

The stranger cracked an uncertain smile, bobbed his head, then ran. Soon he disappeared in the heavy rain.

Later, Tom would remember that he had forgotten to ask for the stranger’s name. But he’d simply shrug, thinking it shouldn’t matter since it was unlikely that they’d see each other again.

 

A week after and they'd see each other again.

_And_ the week after that.

_And_ after that. 

They soon took the hint.


End file.
